Many Breeders Crown Elimination Players Set Up Hot Final Fields
Choices Lost And Found In The Breeders Crown
At Philly there were five Liberty Bell divisions for frosh-filly trotters and pacers. One of our contenders, Git Go, scratched, leaving five races.
The best play was with the filly pace, where we finished second with Firefly ($17.40, $5.20) to compete a $21.60 exacta with the favorite winning.
We also scored a great show price with Diamond Nina ($9.20) in another race won by the crowd’s top choice.
We finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the remaining splits with Ireland (17-1) and Dcocktails N Dreams (17-1).
Friday, Oct. 18
In Hoosier’s top-class features there is always preponderance of favorites. The Pegasus series for sophomores was no exception. Oddly enough, the only outcome we were correct about did not include the horse we chose as the upset. That was unfortunate for us, because we predicted the overthrow of Indiana champ Swandre The Giant but it was not Homer Hall (7-2) doing the beating. A 34-1 shot slayed the “Giant” while we finished fifth.
The only other successes we had was to complete a soph-filly trot exacta ($8.50) with American Kronos ($5.40, $3.60), and with the huge favorite Hicksformfrenchlick ($2.80, $3.00, $2.20) in the colt pace. First or second favorites won the other splits, where we had only one excuse losing when Strip Down AS (8-1) broke and was eliminated. The others finished off the board.
We offered a special full card of contenders for opening day at Oak Grove, the new Kentucky harness track from the Churchill Down/Keeneland partnership. Twinspires’ harness blog will be offering H2W picks for the remainder of the meet at Oak Grove.
The first program at Oak Grove featured seven races. Here, in order, are the prices (per payoff finish or order of finish, for our suggested contenders. My Frisky Boy ($2.40); Charmbo Blitz (5th); Keyword ($5.40); Twice The Fool (7th ); Mystical Storm ($4.60); Lous Endeavor (7th); He Rocks The Moon (5th); and Ideal Gemini ($3.40, $5.60 ok).
BREEDERS CROWN COUNTDOWN
Saturday, Oct. 19, our Breeders Crown Countdown covered the freshman eliminations at Woodbine/Mohawk.
It was a decent night for us, though some diehard division leaders lost, though still securing a spot in next week’s finals.
Our winning contenders included—in price order—Priceless ($6.50, $3.80, $2.90) and Lyons Sentinel ($2.50, $2.10, n/s) in two of the three filly paces. In the other we were second with Alicorn ($2.10, n/s).
Our other winner was Papi Rob Hanover ($5.00, $2.40, $2.10) in the solo colt-pace elim.
We completed two show finishes with Rome Pays Off ($5.70) and Shisto ($2.10) in the colt trot and filly trot, respectively. Only one of our contenders, Sherry Lyns Lady (8-1) finished out of the money, seventh in a filly-trot elim.
On Saturday, Oct. 19 the sophomore elims added some tension to next week’s finals and turned away most of our contenders on the last night of gathering the finals’ fields.
Our only winner was Bettors Wish ($3.00, $2.10, $2.10) for the colt pacers’ second elim. We lost the first with Stag Party (10-1), who got our last endorsement.
There was a second for us in a filly trot elim with Only Take Cash ($4.40, $3.10). In the other split for the division we were fourth, making the final, with Asiago (5-1).
There was no challenge in the filly-pace elim from our possible upset with Queen Of The Pride (30-1). As well, Gimpanzee (2-1) closed great again but only took fourth in the soph-colt trot.
In the mare trot elims we were third with Weslynn Dancer ($4.80) and nowhere with Top Expectations (45-1), though the latter was full of trot but trapped in the stretch.
H2W LIST RESULTS
The H2W results list across-the-board prices. Also, exactas listed are included when a H2W horse finishes second with a race favorite or the first two finishers making up the exacta are H2W horses (an asterisk appears when both horses were listed to complete a cold exacta). The note “ok” determines that prices published are correct even when a show price exceeds a place price or any or all of the prices are the same. This week, there were 46 active horses (a 24-percent win hit rate and a 46-percent ATB [across-the-board] hit rate).
Please note that some H2W results reflect win, place, show and exotic results occurring by press time but some horses race after the blog is posted (we list them the following weeks) It is up to you to follow horses that have not performed before this weekly review.
Winners
Sabrina Deo, $36.40, $8.20, $4.20, Pocono
Faith Prevails, $8.40, $4.40, $3.40, Northville
Sammy The Bull N, $7.80, $4.60, $3.20, Dayton
Burkes Bandit, $7.60, $4.40, $3.20, Plainridge
Neverforgetwhour, $7.40, $3.60, $3.70 ok, Yonkers
Amarettigone, $6.80, $3.80, $3.20, Northfield
Champagne Shower, $3.60, $2.60, $2.20, Northfield
Colonys Best, $5.20, $3.40, $3.20, Dayton
Ladys Big Stormont, $3.80, $2.20, $2.10, Monticello
Elysium Seelster, $3.40, $2.80, $2.80, Dayton
Jeffs Journey, $3.30, $3.30, $3.00 ok, Flamboro
Seconds
Northern Jack, $23.20, $13.20, Freehold
Mac Raider, $7.00, $4.70, Flamboro
Ginger, $5.30, $4.50, Western Fair
Lyons Delight, $2.70, $2.40, Batavia
Thirds
Hasty Western, $3.30, Monticello
Nutmegs Yankee, $3.00, Northfield
Warrawe Usain, $2.90, Western Fair
American Champ, $2.50, Monticello
Wild West, $2.50, Yonkers
R J P, $2.20, Meadows
News & Notes
For some of the aged horses uninvolved with Breeders Crown elims, there were qualifiers with which to tune up for the six-digit finals, instead of relaxing for a week. At the Meadowlands on Oct. 18, a few star pacers and trotters went a-racin’. Trotter Guardian Angel AS won in 1:54.4. Shartin N soared over the two turns for a 1:51.1 mile, with Caviart Alley second.
Five eligible older pacers went to post on Oct. 19 at WoMo in a Preferred won by Doroduro Hanover. Also in the race with eyes on the finals were Geez Joe, Youaremycandygirl, Courtly Choice and Jimmy Freight.
The New Jersey breeders and owners (SBOANJ) are sponsoring a series for three-year-old state-bred trotters at Freehold and the Meadowlands beginning in November. Freehold offers two legs for $15,000 with a $50,000 final. The first leg goes on Nov. 1, while the second leg is on the Nov. 8 card and the final is on Nov. 15. Due to scheduling issues, the Meadowlands’ series will have one leg for $15,000 and final for $65,000. The first leg is on Friday, Nov. 29 with the final on Friday, Dec. 6.
Trainer Anette Lorentzon earned her way into rare company on Oct. 17 when she won her 1,000 race. Lorentzon becomes just the 16th female trainer in harness racing history to reach 1,000 wins. The milestone came with a training double at Yonkers, where she rules a strong stable. The milestone win was even sweeter for Lorentzon, as she also bred and owns the 1,000th winner, Victoryisalluneed, a three-year-old filly. The Swedish-born Lorentzon has 144 wins in 2019 as of this report. In 2018 she tabbed 154 wins with more than $2.7 million in earnings. A sizable chunk of the total this year is due to Guardian Angel AS, who won the Maple Leaf Trot among earning from other high-priced races
Extraordinary Extras
Indulge in our monthly columns, Alternative Actions and Bettors Banquet at Harness Racing Update
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